County, Builder At Odds Over Stadium

KISSIMMEE — The county is locked in a dispute with the builder of Osceola County Stadium because of two ticket booths that were built without steel reinforcement.

The county wants Graham Contracting Inc. of Orlando to rebuild the booths at the company's expense, said Dick Berry, clerk of the works. Cost has been estimated at $30,000.

Berry said Graham has asked the county for more time to come up with an alternative to rebuilding. ''The bottom line is that he doesn't want to spend the money to replace those buildings,'' Berry said.

Bob Graham, company president, did not return telephone calls to his office Wednesday. The company also is building the $7.1 million criminal justice facility off Simpson Road, near Florida's Turnpike. It is expected to be completed in January.

Berry said there are visible cracks at the corners of the ticket booths, which are stand-alone structures apart from the stadium. X-rays revealed there are no steel rods between the building blocks, something the architect said is crucial to make the buildings structurally sound.

The contractor has been ordered by the county to tear down both buildings and rebuild them with the steel reinforcements.

Dissatisfaction with other things at the stadium has prompted the county to withhold more than $180,000 from Graham's contract until the problems are corrected.

The county has asked Graham to repaint the stadium; inspectors discovered that only one coat of paint was applied instead of the two specified in the contract.

Workers began to repaint the stadium a week ago.

Steel railings were rusting, Berry said, because the galvanizing process was ''shoddy.''

The air-conditioning system was not built to specifications and is under repair by Graham employees.

In the meantime, Graham has asked engineer Dan Fulford to give him a second opinion on whether the ticket booths should be rebuilt.

''We told him if he could get a Florida certified structural engineer to come up with a solution that we think is sound, we might consider that,'' Berry said. ''But Fulford is a civil engineer. If he puts his stamp on this job and says it's okay, then he is going out on a professional limb.''

Fulford would not comment Wednesday.

A civil engineer designs bridges and roads; a structural engineer designs buildings and building supports.